Chelsea Girls

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This article is about the Andy Warhol film. For Nico album, see Chelsea Girl (album).

Chelsea Girls

Directed by	Andy Warhol Paul Morrissey
Produced by	Andy Warhol
Written by	Ronald Tavel Andy Warhol
Starring	Nico Brigid Berlin Ondine Gerard Malanga Eric Emerson Mary Woronov Ingrid Superstar International Velvet
Music by	The Velvet Underground
Cinematography	Andy Warhol Paul Morrissey (uncredited)
Release date(s)	September 15, 1966
Running time	195 min. (approx.)
Country	USA
Budget	$3,000 (approx.)
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Chelsea Girls is a 1966 film directed by Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success, and was shot at the Hotel Chelsea and various other locations in New York City. The film, starring many of Warhol's superstars, takes place at the hotel, and follows the lives of several of the young women who live there. The name is an obvious reference to the location where the film was shot.

According to script-writer Ronald Tavel, Warhol first brought up the idea for the film in the back room of Max's Kansas City, Warhol's favorite nightspot, one night in the summer of 1966. In Ric Burns' documentary film Andy Warhol, Tavel recollected that Warhol took a napkin and drew a line down the middle and wrote 'B' and 'W' on opposite sides of the line; he then showed it to Tavel, explaining, "I want to make a movie that is a long movie, that is all black on one side and all white on the other." Warhol was referring to both the visual concept of the film, as well as the content of the scenes presented.

The film was shot in summer and early autumn 1966 in various rooms and locations inside the Hotel Chelsea, although it is worth noting that of all those who starred in the film, only poet René Ricard actually lived there at the time.^[1] Filming also took place at The Factory, Warhol's studio. Appearing in the film were many of Warhol's regulars, including Nico, Brigid Berlin, Gerard Malanga, Ingrid Superstar, International Velvet and Eric Emerson. According to Burns' documentary, Warhol and his companions completed an average of one 33-minute segment per week.

Once principal photography wrapped, Warhol and co-director Paul Morrissey selected the twelve most striking vignettes they had filmed and then projected them side-by-side to create a visual juxtaposition of both contrasting images and divergent content (the so-called "white" or light and innocent aspects of life against the "black" or darker, more disturbing aspects.) As a result, the 6 1/2 hour running time was essentially cut in half, to 3 hours and 15 minutes. However, part of Warhol's concept for the film was that it would be unlike watching a regular movie, as the two projectors could never achieve exact synchronization from viewing to viewing; therefore, despite specific instructions of where individual sequences would be played during the running time, each viewing of the film would, in essence, be an entirely different experience.

Mary Woronov

Several of the sequences have gone on to attain a cult-status, most notably the "Pope" sequence, featuring avant-garde actor and poet Robert Olivo, or Ondine as he called himself, as well as a segment featuring Mary Woronov entitled "Hanoi Hannah," one of two portions of the film scripted specifically by Tavel.

Notably missing is a sequence Warhol shot with his most popular superstar Edie Sedgwick which, according to Paul Morrissey, Warhol excised from the final film at the insistence of Sedgwick herself, who claimed she was under contract to Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, at the time the film was made.